Sen. Hirono joke goes viral on social media

Months after cracking a joke on the campaign trail, that joke has launched Hawaii's newest U.S. senator to ‘viral status' in the world of social media.

While campaigning in Providence, Rhode Island, democrat Mazie Hirono spoke at a conference for progressive bloggers. Here is the portion of her speech that is getting a lot of attention this week.

"I bring quadruple diversity to the Senate. I'm a woman. I'll be the first Asian woman ever to be elected to the U.S. Senate. I'm an immigrant. I'm a Buddhist. When I said this at a gathering, they said, ‘Yes, but are you gay?' I said, ‘Nobody's perfect."'

Sen. Hirono enjoys telling this story, and told it again as the keynote speaker at an awards gala for the Japanese American Bar Association in February. In attendance was former ‘Star Trek' actor George Takei, who is a prominent force in social media and proponent of gay rights.

He posted her quote Monday on his Facebook fan page, which has more than 3.6 million followers. Within six hours of that post, Sen. Hirono's go-to joke was all over social media with more than 98,700 likes, 17,100 shares and nearly 2,000 comments.

Following the overwhelming response, Hirono posted four words on her Facebook page, "Live long and prosper."